


To Your Last Dyin' Day

by major_general



Category: West Side Story (1961)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-20
Updated: 2014-12-20
Packaged: 2018-03-02 10:30:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2809133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/major_general/pseuds/major_general
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If ever there was a guy that you’d want on your side, it was Riff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Your Last Dyin' Day

**Author's Note:**

  * For [eurydice72](https://archiveofourown.org/users/eurydice72/gifts).



> eurydice72, Happy Yuletide! 
> 
> You may have noticed that you have two fics. I wrote one and then looked back at your letter and realized I'd done what you expressly asked me not to do. So I wrote you another fic.
> 
> This is the one that meets your tastes and I really hope you like it.
> 
> Thanks to my beta, d.

If ever there was a guy that you’d want on your side, it was Riff. Riff was there for you no matter what. If he could, Tony’d populate the world with Riffs, but as that wasn’t possible, he’d have to settle for second best, a bunch of guys that were almost as swell. I mean, it wasn’t Tony’s idea. There were guys he liked being around. Guys who you could trust. Guys who knew the important things in life, like baseball and standing up for your friends. They were swell, but they weren’t Riff.

  
Honestly, Tony didn’t remember even meeting Riff. He was always there, needling Tony into doing things that he’d never try without him. In the summer, they’d hop a train down to Brooklyn and head out to the beach. They’d hitchhike to places further down the island.

When they were really little, it was really just Riff and Tony. Tony’s parents had trouble with English and pushed him to do things with more Americans, but it was hard when nobody’d invite a guy over on account of his parents. Riff had trouble for other reasons. He’d tell stories about the parents and siblings he didn’t have, ignoring that everyone knew he had a bum uncle who was a mean drunk and had been since the war. That didn’t matter though, because Riff had Tony and Tony’d never turn his back on Riff.

When Riff said he wanted to form the Jets, it was more an idea that they would have other people to back them up. The Emeralds had the territory over near school and they were constantly going after that little kid John. It was hard to avoid them and keep your money, keep your head. So Riff got the idea that together they’d be able to stand up to everyone who tried to mess with them.

“We’d be like a family, Tony. We have to do it.”

“How’re you gonna get the other guys to follow you? Who are you going to get to follow that ugly mug of yours.”

“There’s guys who’d follow anything. So there’s guys who’d like a little guidance, who just want someone to tell them what to do. We’d want some scrappers and some guys who takes orders. Can’t all of them lead like me.”

“No, no one can quite lead like you.”

“We’d take Action. Guy like Action around and you’d scare off half them Emeralds, just on account of how mean he looks.”

“He always seems like he wants to be throwing punches.”

“Exactly. That’s why you want him around.”

“Who else you dragging into this?”

“Who’s that kid. A-rab or somethin’?”

“I’m not sure that’s what he goes by.”

“Well, it is now.”

“You still didn’t say how you are going to get guys to follow you. If you could get guys to follow you, we’d probably have a gang already, or at least a baseball team.”

“That’s not a bad idea, Tony. We start by bringing bats around. And then you and me, we save the boys from whatever gang is bothering them and they join up out of gratitude.”

It mostly worked. They’d wanted to get Action first, but every time they went to save him, he had already beat off the punks who were messing with him. So it ended up being Baby John who became the third member of their gang. The others came along quickly, which was a bit shocking to Tony. He guessed that anyone might be loyal to a fella that kept him in lunch money and out of serious trouble.

When they saw another gang picking on a kid, Riff’d run up first all insulted and start shouting at the punks. Then he’d swing his bat at whoever was the leader. When the rest of the crew went after Riff, Tony’d swing away and take out the other guys. After they’d sent the gang running, they’d pick their new recruit up off the ground and Riff’d give them a speech about how great it is when someone has your back. What couldn’t you do if you had a bunch of guys there to help you out. As he spoke, Tony’d stand behind him with the bat, punctuating every point with a swing. He said they’d be powerful, they’d be the kind of thing their enemies would fear, like jets coming out of the sky to wipe everyone who didn’t belong in their territory off the map.

They had their pick of the best ones then. Even Action came around eventually.

The Jets became everything to Riff after that. That was never the case for Tony though. He had the baseball team and he worked hard to get good grades. His parents expected it of him. America was tougher than they dreamed it would be and they wanted him to have a bright future. So Tony tried to make something of himself, to make his parents proud. And he was the best Jet he could possibly be on top of that, to make his brother proud.  
Because even though they had different mothers, they were brothers. They even shared a room. Riff’d moved in four years ago and that was it. New brother, who always seemed like his family anyway.

The day came when his parents told him that if he wanted to keep Riff around, he’d have to find a way to bring in some more money. They couldn’t afford to feed Riff and their own, so somebody was going to have to earn some cash. It wasn’t like they could bring in anything that the gang earned. That mostly went to the boys anyway.

Tony knew it’d never be Riff who’d get a job. Riff was too busy running their neighborhood. As the second-in-command Tony didn’t have as much pressure as Riff, so he could be the one to get a job and support the bum.

It didn’t take long to find a job either. Doc’d always liked him and needed the extra help anyway. Tony’d go in every day after school and spend a good chunk of the weekend there. Then with his schoolwork and everything else, Tony really didn’t have time for the Jets anymore. He wanted to try, for Riff’s sake, but he couldn’t fit it in.

When he started to get the feeling, the sense of impending something, he knew he’d have to chose the something over what Riff wanted for him. Choosing it was going to be important. Just as important as Riff’d always been. They’d never stop being brothers, but Tony was going to catch that something and hold it tight. He hoped Riff would understand.


End file.
